[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> stephanie: okay. hour number one. >> eww. yeah. >> stephanie: who else is like me you couldn't stop watching

and then you watch and got sicker to your stomach. do we have the courage to stop this is posted online. in a half hour, i'll talk to my very best friend in the world except for you jacki she's a psychologist in the prison system to talk about the mental health aspect of this. jacki schechner and i went to spinning friday because when the news broke when we were here -- that's a testament to the way we are. people think oh, another shooting. it is probably no big deal. by the time we got out of spinning we realized what it was. >> it was extraordinary because we had reported it first that it was just a gunman. we thought he was the only fatality. we got out of class -- i got in the car turned on the radio and stephanie called me at exactly the same time and said are you listening to? it went from one dead gunman to 20 children. >> stephanie: lots to talk about this morning. my other bff in the current news center jacki schechner. >> we're going to talk sandy

hook in a moment. a quick political note. we do have some other news that south carolina governor nikki haley is going to announce who she would like to replace senator jim demint coming today. jim demint is leaving the senate to head up the conservative think tank the heritage foundation. whoever governor haley appoints will then serve until a special election can be held in 2014. let's talk about the tragedy that really has shaken a nation. the first of those 20 children killed on friday are going to be laid to rest today. 6-year-old jack pinto and noah pausener. jack is a loving sports enthusiast especially the new york giants. noah is a lively kid. president obama spoke at a service in newtown on sunday offering his condolences and emphasizing that enough is enough. >> obama: since i've been president, this is the fourth time we have come together to comfort a grieving community torn apart by mass shootings. these tragedies must end.

>> the president said in the coming weeks he will engage law enforcement, mental health professionals to figure out what can be done. >> senator dianne feinstein is promises to introduce new legislation on the first day of the next congress. >> a bill to ban assault weapons. it will ban the sale, the transfer the importation and the possession. >> we'll have more throughout the morning. kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those type. those types are coming on to me all the time now. she get's the comedians laughing... that hilarious. and the thinkers thinking. joy okay so. there's wiggle room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me? >>she's joy behar. joy and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? > only on current tv. brought to you by geico 15 minutes can save you 15% or more on car insurance. visit geico dot com for a free

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[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: ladies and gentlemen, it's a "the stephanie miller show." >> announcer: i'm walkin' on sunshine ♪ ♪ i'm walkin' on sunshine ♪ ♪ and it's time to feel good ♪

♪ hey, all right now ♪ ♪ it's time to feel good ♪ >> not really. >> yeah. >> stephanie: 1-800-steph-12 toll free from anywhere. i'm sure a lot of people have something to say. we posted do we have the courage to stop this by nicholas christof on the facebook page. >> stephanie: my very best friend in the whole world coming up in about 20 minutes. she's a psychologist in the prison system out here in california. on the mental health aspect of all of this. obviously a lot to talk about and i don't know if i was saying -- to jacki at the top, i don't know if you're like me, you can't turn it off. i literally thought i don't know how many times i thought i was going to vomit. you can't stop watching. >> what got me on friday was the footage of the children crying in the parking lot. that was -- >> stephanie: well the president last night i just thought, you know, i don't know how you couldn't cry. the part where he said jesus

said little children come to me. he had to -- list their names. anyway, you know, we've been talking about these issues, obviously those of us in this arena for so many years. that's what everybody is asking, right? will this time actually be different. my sense is that it is. i hope i'm right. you know what i mean. when people say now is not the time. when? when 100 first graders get shot in the face. would that be a better time? >> now is exactly the time. >> it is exactly the time. >> i was reading with the ar-15 the assault rifle. they're licensed, you can own them in germany but you can only shoot three bullets and then have to reload to prevent these kind of tragedies. >> there was also a similar incidence in china of someone going in but they didn't have a gun so nobody died. it happened on the exact same day. >> stephanie: if we all go to our regular talking points, we're never going to get anything done.

all of those catchphrases, guns don't kill people, all of that stuff, there is something we can do. and i honestly feel like everything's a part of it. mental health, cutbacks that affect mental health. obviously guns. senator feinstein's bill should be the start of what we do. absolutely we should ban assault weapons and the clips and close the loophole at gun shows. >> a woman was calling said her granddaughter's school has bulletproof glass and metal doors. you can't get in. >> stephanie: louis gohmert on cue, we need teachers armed. we need more guns. >> we need 6-year-olds armed. >> stephanie: seriously first grade principals, we need them armed like rambo? >> you know what? i would rather have them be trained to teach children. i don't need them to be trained to kill with guns. >> stephanie: it is the republicans like louis gohmert that have been bashing teachers for how long. so now they need to be navy

seals on top of -- >> on top of buying books and pencils. >> on lower pay every year. >> which is not their job. >> god, there are so many morons in this country. >> stephanie: i have to say as i just -- when i opened up i said i'm hopeful. there is not a human being alive that can listen to a story about a 6-year-old, several of them being shot by an assault rifle several times at close range and wonder what that looks like. what that parent had to -- what that looked like. >> nothing happened. >> after what happened after columbine. nothing changed. >> stephanie: i just -- even -- the most fervent gun person, do you not think -- you can look anywhere and get the statistics. gun deaths by country, in one year, guns murdered 17 people in finland. 35 in australia. 39 in england and wales. 200 in canada. 9,484 in the united states. you don't think the people think

we're insane in this country? >> 9,000. >> stephanie: nobody needs a military assault weapon! who -- of course, "meet the press" still able to make my head explode. basically, i thought it was a really good discussion of it. but there is bill bennett going i don't think we know what the result of the assault ban expiring is. yeah. >> 9,000 dead people. [ ♪ "world news tonight" ♪ ] >> stephanie: bill, since the federal assault weapons ban expired in 2004, the number of people shot has nearly tripled. i wonder if there is any connection there. of course there is a connection! what do you mean we don't know what happened? these talking points, jim oh, you're never going to stop every bad -- of course not. people can kill people other ways. so we shouldn't try anything. that's what's the saddest part. people are like talking about portland anymore, how long ago was that. that wasn't that many people. i mean like the president said.

this is -- how did he put it exactly. we cannot tolerate this. >> it is time to re-examine the second amendment because it is an antiquited -- >> stephanie: this was not designed for this. >> washington didn't want a standing army. he wanted a well-regulated military. we have the army, the marines the coast guard, the national guard, the air force -- >> stephanie: as a hollywood liberal, i live by the first amendment, i hate the violent video games. i'm not saying you can shut them down. i don't go to violent movies. i think it is all part of it. if we can't have a discussion that involves talking about violent video games that talks about assault weapons and mental health and the cutbacks in it then we're never going to solve it. >> do we know that adam lanza was into violent video games. >> stephanie: i'm not talking about this specific case, chris. why do you think this didn't happen when we were growing up? this didn't happen, right? there is something going on.

i would not have had the first idea, a, where to get a gun when i was growing up in the '70s. >> there were violent movies in the '70s. you know. >> stephanie: all i'm saying -- >> the godfather, scar face. >> stephanie: i'm not talking about movies. i've heard people that are more expert than i am talking about the video games. it is mere of a -- it is more of a -- >> you are the shooter in that. >> stephanie: yeah. you said in the military you're trained, the person will shoot back. the video games are simulated to -- >> first person shooters. that's what they're called. >> i don't remember assault weapons being available in the '60s and '70s. >> stephanie: right. >> you had to work at it if you wanted to kill a large number of people. now, you know -- >> there are more places to get guns in america than there are mcdonald's. that's a problem. >> stephanie: there are 300 million guns. it is really astounding and you know, and people, jim oh,

that's what we really needed? >> you know why we had a lot of guns? >> i was going to say this case is almost like a perfect storm of -- you know, the kid is autistic,s a asperger's and she's a gun nut and there's all of these guns in the house. i'm not blaming her for -- how about that story? they didn't even know -- i was just going to say they didn't know how to identify her. she was shot four times at point-blank range in the face. the whole story is so horrible. but you're right. it is a perfect storm of access to assault weapons with a mentally ill kid. >> that's -- that article that was going around facebook yesterday, i am adam lanza's mother, that was absolutely harrowing. >> stephanie: we're going to talk to my friend about that. >> they must feel so helpless when they have a kid like that. >> i did see the update. >> stephanie: i don't know the truth of that specific case. yeah i'm adam lanza's mother meaning -- there are these kids in society that sometimes -- are

not bad parents they don't know what to do. in her case, they're saying she may be crazy, too. >> previous posts, she was really berating her son and saying she would like to do things -- okay. whatever. >> stephanie: the point is a lot of people are raising their kids. what is going on with that? >> exactly. >> stephanie: we can talk to wanda about that. it is that whole debate. are kids born sociopaths? what is causing the degree of what is happening right now. in terms of guns, jim that's the other thing. i hate these -- we don't know -- there are statistics. there really are. not just for the ones i read around the world. how many gun deaths there are and how many more gun deaths there were since the assault weapons ban expired. these things are easily -- it is easy to find out, you know. do a little research. don't listen to me. guns kept in the home. 43 times more likely to kill a family member friend, acquaintance than an intruder. that is just a fact.

look at this headline. a land without guns. how japan has virtually eliminated shootings. in part by forbidding almost all forms of firearm ownership japan has as few as two gun-related homicides a year. i understand -- oh, we can't do that here! >> there are too many guns out to there to confiscate. >> stephanie: a friend of mine said bad people are always going to get -- [ buzzer ] where are the guns in japan? >> every country has bad people. every country has sociopaths. every country has people that want to kill other people. >> stephanie: the president's right. we can't tolerate we have more freedom. really? this is the price of freedom? how many zillion times more than the next country? >> kids get killed in elementary school? >> stephanie: in first grade. >> gun people have their rights so that kids can have their rights and lives taken away. >> stephanie: i'm just

saying -- i'm not saying we're going to ban all guns like japan but do you think there's some connection that there's two deaths a year in japan from guns. >> in japan, there are a lot of people in a very small -- and so they -- over the centuries they've learned to -- >> and you're right. it is a very regimented, disciplined society. it is not our society. so there's that going on. but still. >> stephanie: obviously in the stephanie miller community there are people affected. remember scuba drew our friend hawaii that wrote last week. i'll keep this short. please bring up the issue of gun control and what can be done to stop the senseless acts. now is the time to discuss this when the grief and emotion is raw. coming from someone who just lost a loved one in this, it is not too soon. it is perfect time. drew who just read a letter from last week. lots to get to.

we have -- we have -- as i was saying my friend dr. wanda coming up at the bottom of the hour. my oldest and best friend. she's a psychologist. she works in maximum security prison. >> she works with people who think like adam lanza. so this ought to be interesting. >> stephanie: 17 minutes after the hour. we continue and also with your thoughts on the phone as we continue on "the stephanie miller show." >> announcer: welcome to the party barn. may we take your order? it's "the stephanie miller show." tell them it's like being nestled in an eight-way, adjustable, heated and ventilated seat surrounded by a 500-watt sound system while floating on a suspension made of billowy clouds. or you could just hand them your keys. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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whatever your moves. payday. fill up and go! me away armed with facts and the arguments to feel confident in their positions. i want them to have the data and i want them to have the passion. [ music ] >> announcer: stephanie miller . >> stephanie: mm-hmm, okay, all ♪ if god had a name ♪ ♪ what would it be ♪ >> stephanie miller. >> stephanie miller ♪ what if

god was one of us ♪ ♪ just a slob like one of us ♪ >> stephanie: okay. it is "the stephanie miller show." 22 minutes after the hour. do we have the courage to stop this by nick kristof that we posted. in bold is the point of it. america regulates ladders and cars more seriously than it does guns. someone else had tweeted "meet the press" said they reached out to all 31 pro gun senators and not one would come on the show. so there we had bill bennett with his ridiculous, we don't really know what the effects of the assault ban expiring was. we do. we know exactly. turn on your television. we've been talking about the mental health aspect with my best friend who is a psychologist at the bottom of the hour. jacki schechner has worked -- with the video game -- in the video game business. >> i was yes among my many -- i worked for an internet company that had a video game channel and i used to do video game news and years later i worked for a

video game company that made reality-based video games and they were games based on the war in iraq and afghanistan. they were the first person shooter games that chris was talking about. >> stephanie: i don't know if that's involved in this particular case. i'm just saying there is something that's going into this toxic brew. this didn't happen when we were growing up. it just didn't to the degree it is. >> i personally think it is a stretch to blame -- to blame things like violent movies, there was a time when people were blaming rock music loose morals. >> stephanie: i was specifically talking about the video games -- it is one part of the equation. >> it is difficult to blame video games for somebody having a break with reality. and going out and -- what they were saying was this kid from what they can tell, felt no pain. he was having all sorts of other emotional and psychological issues and i'm sure wanda can

talk about that. >> stephanie: he was trying to burn himself. >> there is a psychopathic tendency to that. that's not a normal person. i don't think that playing video games or being able to use a weapon in a video game can in any way shape or form be blamed for somebody's potential to take that next step would which would be to harm someone in person. i think that's a huge stretch. until there's an incredible amount of evidence, it would be a difficult argument to make. >> stephanie: jacki my point is a huge chunk of it is mental health and access to the high-powered weapons we haven't seen in the past. i'm saying there is something that's going into this whole brew. it is becoming an every other day occurrence, right? >> i think there is a desensitization to violence in general though. i think that we see -- we see imagery in our day to day on the news and in tv and movies

and if you think about the way that the we -- the way that we portray just life in cinema and on television, we're very heavily desensitized because of the access to the internet. we have such easy access. our news information is not controlled by three networks the way it used to be. >> stephanie: jacki isn't that part of it? unfortunately, all of the copycat stuff, i don't know what is going on with our 24/7 news cycle. we can't stop it but that people want to be a star. they want -- they get inspired by the last one and then you know, you see another one right? >> i don't know how much that plays into it. we had talked about this. i had done an episode of that web show, the point with john fuglesang and he, at the time, was not talking about -- i think it was the aurora, colorado, shooting and he was refusing to mention the name of the shooter because we didn't want to glorify him. my argument was i don't know that that's actually problematic.

i don't know that it's a look for fame and glory. i think the psychology goes much deeper than that. >> stephanie: when i was growing up with three channels and rabbit ears, a difference -- >> probably. because if your life doesn't contain the imagery, it is not something you would be familiar with or know. if you grew up, you know, in a suburban environment or some sort of environment that doesn't contain that kind of violence, you wouldn't see it in your day-to-day life and not that every urban area is violent. but i'm saying if you're not encountering it in your day-to-day life, it won't be something that's familiar to you. if you see it on tv every day in the movies every day, on the internet every day, it is less likely to be as shocking. >> there were serial killers in the '70s. some of the most famous serial killers were in the '70s. >> stephanie: but to this degree kiss, there weren't -- with mass shootings with assault weapons what is it, every week pretty much, right?

>> i personally think it is really two things. it is access to this kind of weaponry. because there's a difference between hurting yourself or committing some sort of violence with a weapon that's not deadly necessarily. and then it is mental health services. i think if we didn't stigmatize mental health difficulty, we made it easier for people to get help and we really -- >> stephanie: and part of that, jacki, is the stuff you and i always talk about with healthcare. republicans not wanting to implement it and mental health is part of that. state cutbacks, it is all of that stuff. austerity thing that oh, we have to cut back. you're absolutely right. this is part of this brew that's happening. >> there is still a stigma to it. people still don't want to admit they can go to therapy or they get therapy. even though a lot of the healthcare plans include mental health benefits, people don't take advantage of them because they're afraid of somebody finding out. they don't know that they exist because it is not publicized. we can get to these kids, not

all of them obviously but we can probably get to the kids a lot sooner if parents weren't so afraid of saying i don't know what to do and i need help. and bring in somebody who can help. >> stephanie: jacki you made -- alluded to it but in terms of this kind of weaponry, the news came out over the weekend that thank god for response times. this kid had enough ammunition to have killed everybody in the school right? >> that's what they said. he could have taken out an entire school. they still have found out what his connection -- he had attended the school as a child. but they haven't yet figured out why he decided to go there and what his motives were but i mean, you just have to think about what horror that is and what drives somebody to go to an elementary school and try and destroy the lives of so many innocent children. that's another psychosis that you can't probably wrap your head around. >> stephanie: all right,

honey, thank you. see you at the top of the hour. dr. wanda, my bestest oldest friend who is a psychologist in the prison system out here in california. next on "the stephanie miller show." >> only on current tv.

[ ♪ music ♪ ] >> announcer: stephanie miller. >> relax. this is just temporary. like lesbianism at women's colleges. [ laughing ] >> stephanie: this is the >> obama: since i've been president, this is the fourth time we've come together to comfort a community torn apart by mass shootings. >> stephanie: it is "the stephanie miller show." welcome to it. 34 minutes after the hour.

we'll get to your calls, i promise. 1-800-steph-12 toll free from anywhere. chris, we were talking about this. everybody's been talking about the piece on line. i am adam lanza's mother. >> i just posted it on your facebook page. >> stephanie: there is speculation whether she herself is unstable. but obviously it is an interesting piece. >> it doesn't part away from the fact that it is an interesting perspective on being a mother raising a child like this. >> stephanie: i'm sharing the story because i'm adam lanza's mother. i'm jason holmes' mother, these boys and their mothers need help. she talks about how she's been told a lot of times unless they go to prison, there's nothing that can be done. that is one of the roots of the problem. my best friend happens to be a psychologist in the maximum security prison system here in california. dr. wanda von kleist, who i've never introduced formally. this is 30 years this

friendship. >> and now you have to call me doctor. >> stephanie: you're a mom of two precious kids that i love. i don't know what human being cannot watch this over the weekend and be sick to their stomach. you must react as a parent and a psychologist. what were your initial thoughts? >> well, one of the things is obviously we do need much greater access to mental healthcare earlier. a lot of times people either cannot access care or they wait until it is too late, especially with children. because a lot of parents assume their child will grow out of that stage of behavior. often that's not true. they need intervention. >> stephanie: this particular

kid, adam lanza they're talking about autism, asperger's disease. what she's saying is that they don't know -- parents don't know how to handle this, right? >> no, they don't. actually asperger's or -- asperger's probably more likely with him. often you have cross diagnoses. you might have anxiety and depression. a lot of things going on. but asperger's in particular makes it difficult because that person cannot pick up social cues accurately. they find themselves being an outcast or not being able to interact with children in a way that other children are comfortable. because they lack social ability. part of that is just -- their brain chemistry and a lot of other things that go on. but clearly this child this young man that's the other thing, people with asperger's tend to be a lot more immature

emotionally but often very intelligent. >> stephanie: that's what he's described as. he wasn't described as being bullied. he had an inability to connect with other people. what do you do about that? what do parents do? >> often, you can see those signs very early. in preschool and kindergarten. you can really see usually that that child has difficulty making friends and keeping friends. and is uncomfortable in social situations. a lot of times, there are cues but like most mental health illness, it runs on the continuum. so you might have a child that has separation anxiety, for instance, and that's normal. but not that it runs for a year or two or three. there's a lot of things that when you look at it, it may seem normal at first but the duration of it and the depth of the problem runs longer. and so then you know there's something underlying that is

actually a problem and a disorder. >> stephanie: you know, this particular mother writes i love my son but i'm terrified of him. when i asked my son's social workers about my options the only option is to have him charged with a crime. if he's back in the system, they'll create a paper trail. that's the only way to get things done. i don't believe my son belongs in jail. the chaotic environment exacerbates his problem. doesn't deal with the underlying pathology. it seems like the united states is using prison as a solution of choice for mentally ill people. the number of mentally ill inmates quadrupled from 2000 to 2006 and it continues to rise. in fact, the rate of inmate mental illness is five times greater than the nonincarcerated population. if anybody can speak to that, you can right? >> well, that's absolutely true. it's really tragic. it started basically in the reagan era where he closed down all of the state mental hospitals for the most part. then all of the people, of course found themselves out on the street. most of them were seriously

mentally ill and could not function. so inevitably, they ended up in the prison system because they would violate laws and even if they were minor laws, they would be paroled they couldn't keep the terms of their parole and they would end up back in prison. and you see that too with the youth authorities and the juvenile incarceration settings as well. and i can tell you even in the prison system with adults, often you have somebody that is seriously mentally ill and the first time they ever receive mental healthcare is in prison. >> stephanie: yeah. those are the people you work with right? >> absolutely. and most of those people have been incarcerated as youths, too. they've been in the california youth authority. they've been in detention homes. they've usually been a problem at school. they have signs very, very early on and it is tragic that they end up only being able to access

mental healthcare once they're incarcerated. >> stephanie: right. wanda, what's your take on this aspect of it? as we've been saying, obviously i think access to assault weapons is part of the problem. how do we address the mental health aspect of this? >> i actually think president obama, you know, is going to -- was really thinking ahead. i'm grateful for that. starting in 2014, there is going to be a lot of access to care that wasn't previously available, you know, through his new healthcare law. and it really is something -- we can take our kids to the dentist. we can take our kids for their flu shots and all of those kinds of things but most people don't readily access mental healthcare. sometimes they don't even know how to. and so i think we need to educate the public quite frankly on the need of what these early signs are and how they access care and what needs to be done and actually you know, going to talk to a counselor i'm not a

great proponent of medication. psychiatric medications for children because most have never been tested on children. children respond very differently to medications. that's not to say there aren't a small group of those kids that actually may need it. but we really need to look at mental healthcare as a preventive, basic care, just like we would, you know, any other healthcare issue. >> stephanie: that's what i was saying. that's part of all of this. the cutbacks on the state level that we've experienced out here, right, in california. >> big cutbacks and also sometimes in the most vulnerable populations where they have all of the other risk factors because if you're already in a difficult environment and there's violence and maybe there's not regular meals or food and there are so many risk factors that come together. so you know, obviously as you've been discussing, it is not

one-dimensional problem. it is a multifaceted problem. and we do have to look at the access to mental healthcare and educating people and the need for it. >> stephanie: wanda, a lot of -- more learned people than i have written about this. not to get into a feminist frenzy but obviously people have noted that almost in every one of the cases, it is a young male. i know that people have written books about the problem our boys and this and that. what's your take on that? what in particular is going wrong? >> i can tell you especially -- every time i work with a violent offender that's an adult and i look back at his history our whole culturation of men still the culture of men still says you're not allowed to express emotions or understand your emotions and this becomes problematic because often then the only emotional range a lot of males are taught, they're allowed, is anger and you know,

then maybe lust or something on the other side of that continuum. but anger is a huge problem because usually by the time anger gets explosive, there are so many other feelings that preceded that. >> stephanie: yeah. >> that ends up being kind of like the volcano bubbling up and that's the final blowout. >> stephanie: you know what? when you look at violent risk factors because obviously in every case you see a lot of people saying gol, i couldn't have seen this coming with this kid. he seemed like a nice kid and he had never been violent before. no police record. how do we predict that? >> well, there are a lot of things that you can see that are violent risk factors. one of them is do they have a lot of angry outbursts? do they enjoy hurting animals? that's a huge red flag. do they talk about hurting others or make threats to hurting themselves or others? they have a history of any kind of aggressive behavior?

fascination with weapons can be another thing. threatening others regularly. often feeling rejected or alone or withdraw from friends and activities. and then they'll start to kind of fantasize that i can get the respect i need or i can get -- you know, the popularity or attention that i need by being violent. a lot of times that withdraw is something that you start to see right before a violent episode. >> stephanie: wanda, i don't know if you heard us all talking about video games as well. what is your take on that aspect of it? >> i hate to contradict jacki but 40 years of research actually show it is amazing we still have a debate about it. the thing that video games has that is very unique, it has an interactive component to it. unlike television or movies. and so what the research has shown and there's something called metta analysis that you pull from all sorts of different

research and find some bottom line truths that come out of all of those. and one of them is that interactive component. even they tested people who are watching things that are rated e for everyone. and they still had responses to that and it is not that it is an immediate response. it is that over time that, interaction kind of trains your brain to say you know, violence has a good outcome because in the games you win. the more people you kill, you win. so there's that positive association. and it just desensitizes you often. it is not the only reason. >> stephanie: wanda that's what i was sayingment to me, inial we have really -- all get off our talking points and have a meaningful conversation about all of the aspects of it, we won't solve it right? >> exactly. because like most problems that we have and our society now they're not a one-solution problem. they're not a one-facetted

problem. we must talk about all of the facets and everybody kind of get off of their own sacred cow their protected talking point and say look, there's many factors. let a just look at all of the factors and see what's true about all of these things. >> stephanie: sorry chris. go ahead. >> i'm not a gamer in any way shape or form. i haven't played video games since frogger. >> stephanie: that's embarrassing to admit. >> but the vast majority of people throughout who are playing video games have absolutely no problems with they can shut it off. i think it just depends on the individual. >> stephanie: vast amount of people who own guns aren't out shooting kindergarteners. >> this kid couldn't feel physical pain. i wonder if that inhibited his ability to understand any kind of pain in others. >> well, also, a lot of kids that self-mutilate and self-harm by cutting themselves or burning

themselves, often, they actually have quite an extreme amount of psychological pain and they will cut or burn themselves so thy have relief. something hurts more immediately, than their emotional pain. >> cutters do that. >> exactly. or burning. but you're exactly right chris. it is not one of those things. and that's what we have to look at. there are so many factors that go into this. this is kind a perfect storm if you will of all of these factors and that's why we must talk about -- we can't -- it is like people say oh, pesticides don't hurt you. but they're only looking if you only had that one pesticide and that one amount. the truth of the matter is we're ingesting things from all different levels. same thing is for violence. >> stephanie: yeah. i think that that's exactly right. like you were saying, this particular case, as we were saying, you have a mentally ill kid and access to a bunch of high-powered weapons. talk about a perfect storm.

wanda, this would be considered a warm-up for our normal conversation. literally, i could keep you all morning. but we talk in person, there's no commercial breaks. >> true. >> stephanie: this is just a warm-up for us. before you go, honey quickly how do you talk to kids about this? when i say kids, your kids are basically my kids because i'm part of the village that raised them. >> that's true. >> stephanie: that must, the other aspect. how do you talk about this as a parent to your kids? >> you have to really look age appropriately. the age of your child. and the most important thing remember is children of every age, they will take their cues from the parent. so you have to -- the parent really needs to kind of take a deep breath, try to be as balanced as possible because if they're frenzied and upset and crying and the child sees that, they're going to say okay, i need to be upset about this, too. so the first thing to remember is your child does take their

cues from you and talk to them about you know, what is a concern to them? because often especially with young children, they might want to know something very simple. and they -- you know, adults go into the big explanations. so the main thing is to let them know they're safe. create a safe space that's home. that is their sanctuary. regularrivity cans to continue -- regular activities, important to continue those so the child has a sense their regular life is going to go on. talk to them about primarily first and foremost, they're safe right now. so they get that immediate sense of safety. but also, you know, let them know that you're there and listening to them more than anything. >> stephanie: yep. >> first, listen to what their concerns actually are. >> stephanie: well the one reason i know it is a kind and loving god is he saw fit to give me as a very best friend, a brilliant psychologist, which trust me, was not an accident.

>> likewise. likewise stephanie. obviously keep my humor going as well. >> stephanie: dr. wanda von kleist, my very best friend. you danced with wanda. she's an enthusiastic dancer. she knocked you into the bushes. >> centrifugal force. >> stephanie: she's a force of nature. my bestest friend in the whole wide world. 50 minutes after the hour. right back on "the stephanie miller show." i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of >> on-going train wreck aside, i love this. >> announcer: it's "the stephanie miller show."

every day presents another exciting issue. from financial regulation, fraud on wall street. things everyday exploding around the world that leave no shortage for exciting conversations. at the end of the show, you know what has happened, why its happened and more importantly, what's going to happen tomorrow. [ ♪ music ♪ ] [ ♪ music ♪ ]

>> announcer: stephanie miller >> announcer: stephanie miller. ♪ you bad girl, you bad girl, you're such a dirty bad girl ♪ ♪ uh-huh ♪ >> stephanie: it is the "the stephanie miller show." how awesome is my best friend, dwaune? >> she's awesome. >> stephanie: sexy liberal tour director, roland, i am so proud of your high-strung tour producer. his tweet said so much of how we feel. one of the tweets of the day on msnbc they showed on screen. just saw it on dan savage's time line. roland said it best. it shows steph has the best people around it. i have the bestest friends in the world. roland tweeted if it was a toy that killed 20 children in one day, there would be no debate about banning it. why is there any hesitation about assault rifles? for sexy liberal d.c., we obviously will pick a gun violence charity.

we let you know what what the cause is. we're obviously trying to regroup here. the president last night in newtown. >> obama: to end them, we must change. in the coming weeks i'll use whatever power this office holds in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this. >> stephanie: brian in iowa writes hey steph, we started an unnecessary war in a foreign country to eliminate weapons of mass destruction. in this country, we have ak guns circulating available for anyone to have and unleash. it is long pastime we go to war war necessary to eliminate the weapons of mass destruction in our own country. again, no reason for anyone to have a military assault weapon. and the other thing i heard a statistic yesterday about the gun show loophole i think that something about 40% of the guns people acquire in this country are -- there's no background check. okay. let's go to norma in arizona. you're on "the stephanie miller

show." hi norma. >> caller: hello. >> stephanie: hi. >> caller: i don't have time -- i have time, you don't but this business with -- i don't know where to start. trains people as opposed to the educated people. like psychiatrists and educated -- miss the point. even like the david brooks and the george wills, it is all the fault of single parents okay. they don't take into -- the 2% as this lady whose son just committed this horrendous crime. >> stephanie: right. >> caller: two things. joe on morning joe is more more adamant and affected by this than even you or i. >> stephanie: yeah. >> caller: he went on. but what i was getting to was this senator blumenthal, a democrat from connect who stated -- he misstated the second amendment to begin with.

plus he pulled out what they did with president -- our fabulous, brilliant president has said in his beautiful speech. one line. like you didn't build that, they pulled out the line of you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. >> stephanie: okay. much more on all of this obviously. 58 minutes after the hour. "the stephanie miller show." ñv [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> stephanie: all right. hour number two. jacki schechner, i was looking at -- we were talking about will anything change this time?

will there ever be any reasonable gun legislation. you reported last hour, dianne feinstein is introducing. is part of the larger problem that americans like the support for gun control has gone down and down and down. in 1969, 60% of americans supported a ban on handguns. a gallup poll in 2011, only 26% wanted such a ban. >> i think now we're going to have a different shift in public sentiment. they're all horrific. there is no way to rank how horrible mass shootings are. when you have elementary school children involved, this has hurt people in a place they didn't expect to be touched and i think that we'll probably have a real -- i would hope, a real momentum to do something now. >> i think the statistics were because we lost two kennedys and martin luther king in the span of a decade. >> stephanie: good point. all right. jacki schechner in the current news center as we roll along. >> good morning. "wall street journal" is reporting today that in addition

to lawmakers planning to reintroduce an assault weapons ban, the administration is looking at its options including a ban on high capacity magazines. this would allow a shooter to carry a larger number of bullets and then fire them off in rapid succession without having to reload. the weapons ban that expired in 2004 did have a ban on ammunition magazines that allowed for more than ten rounds. the "wall street journal" noticed that the recent mass shootings including friday's have involved weapons with significantly more capacity than even that. the a. p. reports that president obama told governor malloy in connecticut that friday was the hardest day of his presidency. abc's "good morning america" spoke exclusively with some of the first responders in newtown. the fire chief saying he had never seen anything of this magnitude and his daughter, who is also a firefighter and ems captain expressing the sadness of getting to sandy hook elementary ready to help and not being able to. >> we're trained to do this.

and we wanted people. we want to take care of people and keep them alive and there's nothing we could do. >> as steph mentioned earlier "meet the press" producer tweeted out that all 31 progun rights senators were invited to appear on the program and none of them agreed to do so. democratic senator who does back the nra and gets an a for his pro gun position is speaking out today saying we do need to have a sensible, reasonable debate. we're back after the break. the right have about "the heavy hand of government". i want to have that conversation. let's talk about it. really. really! that you're gonna lay people off because now the government's going to help really? i wanna be able to have those conversations. not just to be confrontational, but to understand what the other side is saying. and you know, i'd like to arm our viewers with the ability to argue with their conservative uncle joe over the

dinner table.

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[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> announcer: ladies and gentlemen, it's "the stephanie miller show." ♪ i'm walkin' on sunshine ♪ ♪ i'm walkin' on sunshine ♪ ♪ and it's time to feel good ♪

♪ hey, all right now ♪ ♪ and it's time to feel good ♪ >> this portion of the "the stephanie miller show" brought to you by dr. dui. if you or someone you know arrested for dui call mr. dui at 1-800-468-2502. mr. dui, where the defense never rests. 1-800-468-2502. >> stephanie: promise we'll get to more of your calls. everybody has been patient. stephaniemiller.com the web site. stephanie miller on facebook we posted some stuff. we always love eric boehlert tweets but this weekend really, some amazing points. he tweeted nra more guns will make us safe. u.s. is flooded with 300 million guns. when will we be safe? 400 million 500 million? since the newtown shooting, more than 20 americans have died from gunfire. 220 have been injured. in the wake of school massacre,

will fox news take a couple of days off from its hateful union thug chants. i'll tell him what i heard on sean hannity's show on friday. how did the political movement sink to such political deaths. cries of don't politicize gun massacres. he tweets been saying it for years. they need to stop treating gun massacres like their tornadoes there and's nothing you can do. he tweets after abc reported more than a dozen killed in school massacre fox news cut away to story to talk about susan rice. hash tag priorities. his last one i sure hope obama acts on guns but he will need g.o.p. partners on capitol hill. are there any that will stand up against nra and defy the right wing? eric boehlert doing the lord's work as usual. >> eric boehlert. ♪ hurts so good ♪ ♪ come on, baby ♪ >> eric boehlert. >> stephanie: let's dive into the right-wing world.

eric boehlert from media matters who we love. good morning eric boehlert. >> good morning. >> stephanie: great point as usual. i was going to tell you i -- i opened the show today. i said boy i really hope this time is different. it feels different. we're all going to back off to talking points. i was listening to sean hannity on the radio on friday. he said of course the left is politicizing this already. in the same breath, eric, he said i don't mean to politicize this but i don't think this president understands the nature of evil. on friday he said that. >> o'reilly said the same thing on his show friday night as well i'm just finishing up a blog post. mourdock calls for gun reform while fox news demonizes gun reform. there is a massive discorrect. mourdock tweeted this weekend you know, why can't we -- when will politicians get up the nerve to ban automatic weapons? and then he took a swipe at

obama. words are good -- i'm paraphrasing. words are good but we need action. you could argue the largest obstacle, any kind of action, any kind of sane conversation about guns in america is fox news. two weeks ago today, we were talking about their crazysh unhinged, freaked out reaction when bob costas talked about gun violence for 60 seconds during the halftime of a football game. he was attacked for three, four days nonstop. what's this idiot doing? we don't need sportscasters talking about guns? this football player, talking about the kansas city chief, he could have strangled his girlfriend or killed her any way he wanted. it was the knee-jerk idiocy that fox news -- we talked about it at the time, what fox news has always feared is a sane, common sense discussion about guns and fox news operates as an

appendage to the nra. so for rupert murdoch to lecture obama to do something about guns while his highest-profile media entity is designed specifically to silence any discussion about guns is the height of hypocrisy. >> stephanie: absolutely. you bring up bob costas, eric. there are facts and figures. when you have bill bennett going we don't know what the effect of the assault ban expiring was. yes, we do. assaults with guns have tripled since then with assault weapons. you know, it does not take a genius eric. >> yeah, yeah. >> stephanie: and bob costas' point, i was going to say i read a statistic earlier. you are 43 times more likely to kill a spouse or family member than you are an intruder if there is a gun to the home. that goes to bob costas' point. >> the suicide rate skyrockets when you have guns in the home. >> i've been tweeting the statistics. people are amazed. you know, three years ago, i

wrote a piece about rampage nation. and how the press absolutely does not care about the shooting sprees and they happen all the time and they're news for about 48 hours and then it disappears and i've been writing about that on and off for three years. and after the aurora massacre this summer, i pointed out where is the context? where -- why does the statistic that's 30,000 americans die every year from gunfire why doesn't everyone in america know that? why doesn't everyone in america know that 70,000 people are wounded by gunfirer year. >> stephanie: i was reading statistics around the world. it doesn't take a genius. when you go to these talking points like guns don't kill people. people do. bad people are always going to get guns. it is like no! there is a reason there are two gun deaths a year in japan. i'm not saying we can go to that level of gun control but right? >> or canada or england. but you know, since friday

morning, you know, if you looked at the stats in the u.s., 250 americans have died from gunfire. 500 have been wounded. i tweet those numbers and people are shocked, they're amazed. the stats should be common knowledge. in terms of the amount of gun violence we have in this country. those numbers should be included in every report. you know. the press -- i think the press's main fault i think they've been -- i think the coverage has been decent since friday but i've reported -- i've written it over and over. the stories pop up. usually smaller scale and 48 hours, they're gone. because the press is not -- doesn't give them enough attention and like i say in the tweet, they shoot -- they treat the shooting increase as act of nature. the only thing you can do is get out of way. how come in every other country on the planet, people don't have

to get out of the way. they don't exist. george will was on -- in this week yesterday saying oh scotland had a shooting rampage. norway's had a shooting rampage. they haven't figured this out. yeah, point to another country where they have a shooting rampage every other month every year! only in the united states! do we have a track record. >> stephanie: let's dive into the right-wing world. oh boy. speaking of -- [ ♪ circus ♪ ] unless we all back off our talking points, we're never going to get anything done. they didn't get the memo in right-wing world. here's rush limbaugh. >> it may sound hard-edged to say it. but there are elements of the mainstream media who are doing everything they can with their number one objective is to see if there's anything they can blame on conservative media or republican policies or the second amendment, i don't care what it is. you know that that's coming. i want to get it out there and prepare you for it. >> stephanie: there you go.

on friday. right, eric? >> right. i think there was a piece in "the washington post" today about how really gun advocates are the real victims in all of this. people are being so mean to gun advocates and the nra and things like that. look if you invest an entire political movement into this fanatical support of you know gun ownership that goes beyond common sense and reason, then you know what? then you're going to own situations where guns are the source of tragedy. >> stephanie: eric, if you cannot no matter what side of the aisle you're on, this has something to do with easy access to automatic assault-style military weapons and cutbacks in mental health, if we can't even start that discussion because apparently those are left-wing talking points, then you're right. we're not going to solve it. ann coulter on hannity. >> radio. >> it is a fact there's only one policy shown to reduce the

incidents of multiple shootings. there will be crazy shootings. only one policy has reduced the incidents of the mass shootings and the number of casualties and that is concealed carry permits. if you want to reduce the number of dead and the number of times this is going to happen in an area, you sort of sense this because they so often happen at public schools. >> talking points. >> stephanie: more guns, right, eric? >> talking points are don't talk about it because then you politicize it. oh yeah, we should have guards at all 50,000 elementary schools in america. look again australia was faced with gruesome gun massacres and i think britain was in the '80s. australia, within two weeks passed sweeping gun legislation. they haven't had a gun rampage since 1996. so let's not pretend that there's no -- been no one else to fix this. >> stephanie: thank you.

i saw mayor bloomberg on -- new york city, there is a reason in a city that size there is less gun violence in other places because they have strict gun control laws. if you go -- state by state, same thing. there is a correlation, eric when there is stricter gun control, not concealed carry. there are less incidents of gun violence. it is not -- this isn't rocket science, right? >> the other thing that amazes me, ann coulter touched on it, there's nothing you can do. that really is a fallback position. there's nothing you can do. how does that square with, you know, american exceptionalism? the conservatives you know, claim obama doesn't embrace. this is the greatest country in the history of mankind. but by the way we can't fix gun control. by the way we can't stop gun rampages. there's nothing you can do. sit back. that's the price. >> stephanie: accept our first graders, there is a pretty even chance your first grader will get shot in the face during the school day today. really? >> what kind of policy debate?

there's nothing you can do. >> stephanie: exactly. all right. eric boehlert, great stuff. he remains in the sidecar. we continue more right-wing world next on "the stephanie miller show." >> announcer: there's a tea party in her pants and you're invited. call now. 1-800-steph-12. from silver screens... to flat screens... twizzlerize your entertainment everyday with twizzlers the twist you can't resist.

(vo) you've heard stephanie's views, >> no bs, authentic, the real thing. (vo) now let's hear yours. at the only online forum with a direct line to stephanie miller. current.com/stephaniemiller >> the only thing that can save america now, current television. >> stephanie. >> miller. ♪ and the jets. >> stephanie: it is "the stephanie miller show." 22 minutes after the hour. 1-800-steph-12. eric bowlert from media matters

for america rejoins us to continue the right-wing world. sean hannity on friday. >> schools now are asking for having off-duty cops or retired cops with a gun. let's be honest. if you had a guy with a gun in that school security officer, he might have killed some people but you would have at least been able to -- >> i think it is inevitable. >> that's why they target school systems because they don't have the security. >> there's no gun -- >> stephanie: wow. eric, it really is like clockwork. the answer is always more guns. that's the country we want to live in with elementary schools need armed guards. >> there are 98,000 public schools in america. who's going to pay for it? not the republican party. they target a school because there are no guns. oh okay so my grocery store has guns. my department store is loaded with guns? there are no guns at most places! they target schools because they're demented and they have easy access to the guns. >> stephanie: we've had obviously movie theatres. churches. >> they go to where people are

vulnerable. in this society, most everywhere. arizona, i'm pretty sure has carry laws, right? help the people in the shopping center when someone opened fire. >> stephanie: it is gohmert saying this principal should have been armed. really eric? unless literally she had it strapped to her like rambo like you know when a gunman is going to burst into your school. really? >> to do that, she has to undergo extensive firearms training and everything. i want them to be trained to teach our kids. >> but in the meantime, let's cut their pay and eliminate their pension. but make them responsible for killing intruders into our schools. >> stephanie: now is it is their fault they're not navy seals. mike luckby on cavuto. >> we ask why there's violence in our schools but we systematically remove god from our schools. >> that's what it is. of course. >> we've made it a place where we don't want to -- to talk

about. >> no one's ever been shot in a church. >> stephanie: eric this is what i mean about people -- if nobody backs off you knew that's what mike huckabee was going to say. there is no such thing as separation of church and state in our country. >> the reason that those people -- those poor people died in aurora, because they weren't praying at the batman theatre? in portland, they eliminated god from the shopping mall? come on! stop it! just stop the idiocy. >> stephanie: we end with echoing this, of course, brian fisher at american family radio. >> you kick god out of our public school system. god would say to us, hey i'll be glad to protect your children but you've gotta invite me back into your world. i'm not going to go where i'm not wanted. i am a gentleman. i think back when i was in elementary school, we had prayer in schools and we didn't need guns. >> wow.

>> stephanie: god is a gentleman. that's the main thing. we ticked him off i guess. wow, eric. >> those kids had it coming because they weren't godly enough. >> the sad part is limbaugh will be on at noon today. he really didn't get a chance to get into it on friday because it was unfolding and i'm sure he'll -- he'll play the victim and conservatives are the victim and look, i think -- the point you were saying that for there to be change, some people have to change their minds and i already think there are indications, there are some republicans, there are some gun advocates who are -- who are willing to be sensible. the right wing media will never be sensible because change and policy is not what they do. they do ratings and clips and they need to feed their base and so it really is sort of the dying screams of a radical minority, i think. and it is going to be unpleasant to listen to but the country is moving on without them, i think.

>> stephanie: absolutely. eric, great stuff as usual. thanks so much. really appreciate it. [ applause ] >> stephanie: all right. the president in newtown. >> obama: as a community you've inspired us, newtown in the first of indescribable violence, in the face of unconscionable evil, you've looked out for each other. you've cared for one another and you've loved one another. this is how newtown will be remembered. and with time, and god's grace that love will see you through. >> stephanie: matt in new hampshire. hey, matt, welcome. >> hi, steph. first time calling. i had to call today. my first point is number one i'm a brief parent. i've lost three children. only three children i ever had born to me. >> stephanie: i'm sorry. >> caller: this time of year is pretty rough. two died in late fall. one thing really really being missed about this whole thing is

these parents are going through hell. >> stephanie: and by the way right before christmas to make another layer of awful on it, right? >> caller: yeah, because every year, they're going to be reminded of this date. i was fortunate enough after my third child was killed that i found a group called compassionate friends. it was a bereavement group and until you talk to other people who are going through what you go through birthdays days of birth, dates of death it -- the psychological beating these parents will take, they'll be lucky if they're marriage survives. i hate to say that but i've seen too much of this. and you know, i'm not -- i'm a democrat. i'm a liberal. but i owned guns my whole life. i grew up in a household with arsenals. we had a summer camp in western pennsylvania. i grew up in new york.

one of 47 grandchildren who used to go through 10,000 rounds of ammunition every summer but we were always taught to protect guns and guns should never be kept loaded. guns should be locked with trigger locks on them. my wife of 15 years i love her soul, but it was 13 years before she realized my father had several hundred weapons in this house. it kind of freaked her out. but you have to be responsible. i went to high school. my high school in new york had a rifle range in its basement. >> stephanie: yeah. >> i shot for my high school team. >> stephanie: i can hear you from up the transit in lockport, trust me, i know what you're talking about. >> had a planetarium and a rifle range in the basement. we used to take shotguns on the school bus and put them in a locker in the office. >> stephanie: real quick matt, why didn't this happen when we were growing up in

lockport? you got 20 seconds. >> caller: you know, if you're a hunter or a sportsman shooter you don't need a gun that's capable of discharging 30 rounds in five seconds. >> stephanie: thank you. all right. 29 minutes after the hour. right back on "the stephanie miller show." you know the kind of guys who do like verse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. >> she gets the comedians laughing... >> that's hilarious! >> ...and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there's wiggle-room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> you would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me. >> absolutely! >> and so would mitt romeny. >> she's joy behar. >> and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? >> only on current tv. rich, chewy caramel rolled up in smooth milk chocolate. don't forget about that payroll meeting.

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♪ >> announcer: stephanie miller. >> they sit around in their underwear and fornicating in the stairwell. >> sounds like fun to me. >> stephanie: boston was fun. 34 minutes past the hour. >> the wilbur theatre stairwell will never be the same. >> stephanie: yikes. >> stephanie: 34 minutes after the hour. some of the stories, obviously best of america coming out of newtown and then of course, as always, some of the west of

america when the nfl -- >> nbc preempted sunday night football last night to show the president at the memorial service in newtown. they were flooded with tweets such as take that n man off the tv. we want to watch football. >> stephanie: we just finished right-wing world. victoria jackson. hard to find a low -- let's see. quote her friend and fellow tea partier. my friend jim riley posted wasn't the connecticut killer doing what abortionists do every day? thank god there's no politicizing this. it is a wonder we don't have more 20-year-old quote-unquote dads doing what doctors have been able to do. when you get the 10 commandments, people, this is what you get. the president last night. >> obama: you must know that whatever measure of comfort we can provide we will provide it. whatever portion of sadness that we can share with you to ease

this heavy load, we will gladly bear it. newtown, you are not alone. >> stephanie: brian in chicago, you're on "the stephanie miller show." hi brian. >> caller: hey, hi stephanie. how are you doing? >> stephanie: all right. go ahead. >> caller: okay. first time caller and i just started listening to you guys when the president -- during his election and you know, i really got a lot of information from you. and your show and progressives. i'm a republican but i voted for the president because he had vision. but about this situation this shooting, one of the things i found out from the nra that they're against is having guns licensed just like you have a driver's license fishing license, all of that because what it does -- you can track who owns the weapon. and they're responsible. what it would do would be to

generate revenue because you would have to tax it. that's why they're against it. so this is why i'm wondering why they won't speak that up as far as having the guns licensed. >> stephanie: that's the one thing i think people need to realize. the nra is not that powerful. we have tho stop being afraid of the nra. by the way, i've said this before. do politicians only have the courage to do the right thing when they're leaving office. are you to hand it to joe lieberman who said we need a national commission on mass violence not to be in place of anything the state governments want to do but to make sure the heartbreak and anger is not dissipated over time or lost in legislative gridlock. >> maybe he could head that up as a civilian. >> stephanie: restore the assault weapons ban which expired which existed for ten years. '94 to 2004. it had a significant effect on murders committed with guns. bill bennett. in case you're paying attention. in other words down. the second was right now the

background checks that the brady law has, if you go into a licensed federal firearms dealer, you have to be subject to are pretty good. if you go into a gun show, you're not checked at all. and to me, those are two things that would be important. why would the nra be against that? their whole point is stopping crazy people from getting guns. any crazy person can get a gun at a gun show. >> guess where the second most powerful gun lobby is located? >> newtown connecticut. i heard that over the weekend. >> stephanie: christof, do we have the courage to stop this in "the new york times" yesterday. one of the best pieces i saw in the harrowing aftermath of the shooting in connecticut one thought wells in my mind. why can't we regulate guns as seriously as we do cars. the fundamental reason is not because we have lunatics or criminals, all countries have them. but that we all suffer from a political failure to regulate guns. children age 5 to 14 in america are 13 times as likely to be murdered with guns as children in other industrialized

countries. seriously, is that -- i get it. oh, we have more freedom. is that the price you want to pay your kids? >> we don't allow blind people to drive. we shouldn't allow mentally ill people to have assault weapons. >> stephanie: let's treat firearms rationally as the center of a public health crisis that claims one life every 20 minutes. the united states isn't going to ban guns but we can take steps to reduce the carnage. as jim was saying, that's the argument. we can't stop every bad person so let's just do nothing. let's not try to limit it. that ad i love that lawrence o'donnell used to do, i blame the shooter for the first however many bullets. i blame the law for the next -- was it 100 rounds this kid shot. 100 rounds. point-blank into 6-year-olds. >> multiple times into 6-year-olds. god! >> stephanie: american school children, nicholas writes are protected by safety standards

and the bus drivers have to pass tests. cafeteria is regulated for safety. the occupational safety and hazard -- health administration has five pages of regulations about ladders. all federal authorities shrug at serious curbs. ladders kill around 300 americans. guns around 30,000. we even regulate toy guns by requiring orange tips. but lawmakers don't have the gumption to stand up to the nra extremists and regulate real guns as carefully as we do toys. what do we make of the contrast between hee owe irteachers who stand up to a gunman and politicians who won't stand up to the nra. one of my facebook followers wrote it is more difficult to adopt a pet than buy a gun. i'm a big dog rescuer. you know the screening you go through to rescue a dog? >> they come and visit your home to make sure your home is proper for a pet. nothing like that when you buy a gun. >> stephanie: i grew up in

oregontown where -- a lot of people calling today. grew up with guns. guns were a part of life. my gave gave me a 22 for my 12th birthday. shooting is fun. we must use headlights at night. use seat belts. why can't we be equally adult about regulating guns. don't say it won't make a difference because casies will always get a -- because crazies will always be able to get a gun. if we could reduce gun deaths by 1/3, that would be 10,000 lives saved annually. >> in germany you're allowed to own an ar-15 but it you're not allowed to have a huge clip. you have to reload avenue three bullets. >> might i point out that things like cars and ladders are built for other things besides killing people. guns are only made for one thing. killing people or animals. >> stephanie: specifically military assault weapons. they're not made for hunting. they're made for killing a lot of people. >> exactly. >> stephanie: right. one more thing nick says is

likewise don't bother with the argument that more people carry guns, they would defer shooters or interrupt them. mass shooters typically kill themselves so it is hard to see what deterrents would be added with more people packing heat. there have been few cases in which an ordinary citizens stopped a mass shooting. the tragedy is in one school shooting. more americans die in gun homicides and suicides in six months than have died in the last 25 years in every terrorist attack and the wars in iraq and afghanistan combined. >> during virginia tech shooting if everyone had been armed -- >> then the cops don't know who to shoot. >> if everyone is armed, there are more dead people. >> stephanie: let's take a second to absorb. more americans die in gun homicides and suicides in six months than have died in the last 25 years in every terrorist attack and the wars in afghanistan and iraq combined. >> wow. >> that's amazing. >> stephanie: let that sink in for a second. what can we do?

limit gun purchases to one a month to curb gun traffickers. likewise. we should restrict the sale of high capacity magazines so a shooter can't kill as many people without reloading. we should impose a universal background check for gun buyers. let's make serial numbers more difficult to erase and back california's effort to require that new handgun microprint so it can be traced back to a particular gun. there are solutions if we all back off our reflexive talking points, those are reasonable measures that are not taking away everybody's guns. let's go to paul in chicago. hi paul. >> caller: hey. i've never been on the radio so i'm scared. >> stephanie: don't be scared. it is only my show. >> caller: in the words of what's her name, sharon osbourn i don't want to literally pee meself. she actually said that that she peed herself. first of all in the last year,

police in chicago confiscated 21 guns for every one gun that police in new york confiscated. and where i work, i'll tell you what i do. every night when i go to work, i know how bad the violence is based on the air ambulance helicopters and police, it is every weekend is a bloodbath. and 5 to 10 people are killed every weekend up to 40 shot. every week, every -- it is to the point when somebody says hey, what do you think about that -- what did you think about that school shooting? i'll say which one? >> stephanie: there you go. that sums it up. is that the america we want to live in? when someone mentions scoot shooting -- school shooting, you go which one? which mass shooting are we talking about? portland, that was hardly anybody was killed. how long ago was that? literally, just our news cycles become -- we become desensitized to it.

>> absolutely. >> stephanie: we were doing the statistics. in other countries. you just can't say -- bad people are always -- there is a direct correlation. there is a reason japan has two gun deaths a year. nicholas christof, one more thing. other countries offer a road map. in australia in 1996, armas killing of 35 people galvanized the nation's conservative prime minister to ban certain rapid fire long guns. the traditional firearms agreement as it was known led to the buyback of guns fors will being and -- for licensing and safe storage. the law did not end gun ownership. it reduced the number of firearms by 1/5 and they were the kinds most likely to be used in mass shootings. in the 18 years before the law australia suffered 13 mass shootings, but not one in the 14 years after the law took effect. >> coincidence. >> clearly, they let god back into the schools. that's what happened. >> stephanie: the murder rate had dropped by more than 40% according to data compiled by

harveg ard. the suicide rate had dropped by more than half. or we can look north of canada. it now requires a 28-day waiting period to buy a handgun and imposes a clever safeguard. gun buyers should have the support of two people vouching for them. we can look into inspiration on fire safety. some auto deaths are caused by people who break laws or behave irresponsibly. we don't shrug and say cars don't kill people. drunks do. we require seat belts airbags crash safety standards. we've introduced more rules for young drivers. curbing use of cell phones while driving. it has reduced the fatality rate since the 1950s. some of you are alive because of the regulations. if we don't treat guns in the same serious way it won't affect us. i have to give him my award today. brought to you by granger with other 900,000 products for the ones who get it done.

a lot of people making great points on this stuff. we'll continue to talk to more of you on the phone about it. right back on "the stephanie miller show." >> announcer: for a good time, call now. 1-800-steph-12. i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. [ boy 1 ] hey! that's the last crescent. oh, did you want it? yea we'll split it. [ female announcer ] made fresh, so light buttery and flakey.

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80 americans a day are shot to death. every statistic you look at is -- you know, it just gets worse and worse when you really wrap your mind around it. by the way -- [ ♪ "jeopardy" theme ♪ ] who said every year an average of -- this is a long time go -- 9,200 americans are murdered by handguns according to the department of justice. does not include suicides, rapes and assaults committed with handguns. the level of violence must be stopped. sara and jim brady are working hard to do that. more power to them. if the passage of the brady bill results in the reduction of 10% to 15% of those numbers, it would be a lot fewer families facing anniversaries that the reagans and mccarthy's face every march 1st. that was ronald reagan. the about the in newtown on friday. >> obama: come to offer the love and prayers of a nation. i am very mindful that mere

words cannot match the depths of your sorrow. nor can they heal your wounded hearts. i can only hope it helps for you to know that you're not alone in your grief. >> stephanie: jim in iowa. you're on "the stephanie miller show." hi jim. welcome. >> caller: hi, stephanie. good morning mooks. first off first two words. collateral damage. i say that and i keep that in the back of your minds. good morning steph. >> stephanie: he needs to turn his radio down. stephanie in houston. you're on "the stephanie miller show." hi steph. >> caller: hey, steph. this is stephanie. >> stephanie: hello. go ahead. >> caller: i am the wife of an oil executive here in houston. and this time of year i spend

quite a bit of time in the 47% room and friday night i went to a christmas party with my husband and had the pleasure of listening to people talk about what had happened on friday. the point i want to make is we have a lot of fun talking about skeeter and louis gohmert and all of these nuts. but these talking points, these things that they say are coming out of the mouths of men that run multi-million dollar, multibillion dollar corporations. they have -- you know, they modulate their actions. they sound a little more intelligent and they have better grammar but they're no different in the ideas they're sharing with each other. they were sharing these ideas with each other while they were children still. >> stephanie: you were talking about the same sort of talking

points about gun or whatever? >> yeah. >> stephanie: that's the thing, steph. if this doesn't make you pause for a minute and just rethink your own positions on -- like i was saying, on all of it. on the whole perfect storm that's causing this, i don't know who we are as a country anymore. >> i cannot believe what i was listening to. this was hours after this had happened and these kids were still in the building. these are grown men. >> stephanie: what kind of things what kind of things, steph? >> caller: same stuff you hear out of the mouths of all of these idiots. guns don't kill people. people kill people. referring to the president as obama. sharing stories with one another about their assault weapons collection. these are the ones -- these are the pillars of communities. these are men -- and that's the point i want to make. this is what we're dealing with. we're not dealing with outliers.

we're not dealing with -- we're dealing with pillars of the community. >> stephanie: i hear ya. speaking of people in texas this was representative louis gohmert, republican of texas. >> hearing the heroic stories of the principal lunging trying to protect, chris i wish to god she had an m-4 in her office locked up so she could pull it out and she doesn't have to lunge heroically with nothing in her hands. she takes him out and takes her her -- takes his head off before he can kill the precious kids. >> stephanie: what do you call it? the shooting in the movie theatre. >> if only -- >> stephanie: if i would have been there. it is like really? in a darkened theatre. >> guy wearing full body armor. >> stephanie: in this case, the guy was wearing body armor. >> they have better armor than our soldiers do. >> stephanie: does anyone

think that's realistic that an elementary school principal is going to know when an armed gunman is going to break in to have a gun ready. okay. a nevada assemblywoman may introduce a bill that would permit teachers and administrators to carry firearms. >> great. more guns. that's the solution. >> stephanie: more guns crowd. she said -- she argued arming people with weapons would prevent gun violence and touted legislation to allow students and others with permits to carry concealed weapons. >> we've got more people packing heat now than ever before and there's not been -- a diminution of the gun violence. >> stephanie: in not a single case was the killing stopped by a civilian using a gun. one leading expert explained given civilian shooters were less likely to hit their targets, arming civilians could lead to more chaos and deaths. >> there was an incident recently at trader joe's at my

neighborhood where someone stole a box of two buck chuck and security guards were shooting at this guy over wine. >> cheap wine. >> i bet these guys maybe go to the shooting range once a year. if that. you know. you have to keep your training up to do that effectively. >> stephanie: this guy, larry pratt, executive director of gun owners of america. he issued this statement. gun control supporters have the blood of little children on their hands. >> oh, come on. >> stephanie: federal and state laws combined to ensure no adult had a gun at the newtown school where the children were murdered. the tragedy underscores the urgency of getting rid of gun bans in school zones. >> if only we had an okay corral every day then everything would be great. >> stephanie: wow! okay. and literally that's where they go every single time. the only -- the only possible answer is more guns. i mean really?

we can't, in the face of this, take a pause and look at every side of this? all right. 58 minutes after the hour. right back with rude pundit and more as we continue on "the stephanie miller show." ññrrrrenttv